Rapids forward Conor Casey battles for the ball against D.C. United in an MLS game last Saturday. Colorado will play in the CONCACAF Champions League in August.

A good news-bad news situation for the Rapids after they learned their draw for the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.

The good news: Colorado conveniently missed the monsters of Mexico. A good turn, as Mexican teams have dominated the tournament in recent years (winning the past six) and overall (winning 27 of 48 trophies since 1962).

The bad news: The Rapids were placed in Group B with Real España, last year’s Honduran Liga Nacional apertura champion.

Colorado and España are the two auto-qualifiers into the group stage. They will be joined by the winners of preliminary round matches between Mexico’s Santos Laguna vs. Honduras’ Olimpia, and El Salvador’s Isidro Metapan vs. a to-be-determined Caribbean Football Union team.